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Elack Hornbill one day but he merely gave it a poke 

 with his beak and would have none of it). I was very 

 much surprised to see one morning on entering their 

 aviary, that they had caught a rat and were playing 

 with it, but I suppose it would have been too much of 

 a good thing if one of them had swallowed such a 

 large mouthful. 



The following I take from an article by Mr. Finn 

 in The Bird World for Dec. 1905. " The largest and 

 finest of all hornbills is the concave-casqued (^Dicho- 

 ceros bicoriiis). In this bird the plumage is pied, and 

 the casque very broad and concave at the top, while 

 there is a curious sex difference in the colour of the 

 eyes, those of the male being red, while the female's 

 are white. I once saw quite a nestling of this species 

 in Calcutta: it was about as big as a duck, and only 

 feathered on the head, wings, and tail, the bare skin 

 and body being of a purplish blue. This bird is found 

 in India (especially in the lower Himalayan forests), 

 and in the Malayan countries, the mountain specimens 

 being the largest birds, and reaching over four feet in 

 length. 



Both in Toucans and in Hornbills the bill is really 

 far lighter than it looks, the bony interior being of a 

 spongy texture, while the horny casque surmounting 

 the bill in the latter family is quite hollow, except in 

 one species, the Solid-casqued Hornbill {Rhinoplax 

 vigil), in which the front of it is solid. The use of 

 this curious adornment is unknown, the best suggestion 

 I have heard being one made to me years ago by a 

 missionary in Bast Africa, that it may serve as a re- 

 sonator to increase the power of the voice, which is 

 very loud in these birds. Fledglings have not this 



